Four Weeks (Part One)

July 12, 2008, 12:00 pm; posted by
Filed under Articles, Featured, Steve  | 4 Comments

Read the series in parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Ever since the night I lay awake crying at the pending approach of my tenth birthday, I have been acutely aware of the impact of the passage of time. Although I have been blessed to avoid much significant loss so far in my life, there has stayed in my mind, throughout times both mundane and happy, a constant reminder that they will not and cannot remain. Nothing lasts under the sun.

Inertia may rob me, at times, of golden opportunities for entertainment, education or exercise, but I have vowed that I will never have cause to lament the days I could have spent with ones I loved and could have seen. This attitude is what takes me back to my family home and church most weekends, at the cost of a five-hour drive. It led me to spend the last week before my bar examination with my girlfriend amidst the New Mexico mountains, fording a stream in flight from deluge. And this year it brings me along on a four-week tour of America — and the people I love who make it their home.

The itinerary was to begin directly following my sister\’s graduation, when two of my brothers and I would set out by car for far-off Alabama. After that, a few days in Georgia, a wedding in South Carolina — then the others were to head home, dropping me on Staten Island. From New York, a flight to California, a day at home to exchange clothing (thanks to my own scattershot planning), and another flight to the Southwest. The month would end with three days of basketball officiating at a camp with that same now-graduated sister, perhaps a chance to give her a celebratory technical.

Four weeks. At least 14,577 miles. And perhaps the most exciting month of my life to date.


Comments

4 Comments to “Four Weeks (Part One)”

  1. Brian on July 12th, 2008 2:26 pm

    I’m glad I was able to be a part of it.

  2. Chloe on July 12th, 2008 7:39 pm

    Two days!!!

  3. Connie Maxon on July 15th, 2008 10:12 am

    I had a simliar experience after almost dying from Hep A at 15. I can’t remember ever thinking about my health before that, but after two months of illness – two weeks of that in isolation in a hospital – I had a different view of time, relativity and my appreciation of the little things like feeling good or normal.

    Have fun Steve! We miss you. Hi Chloe!

  4. David on July 15th, 2008 11:42 am

    And we remain forever blessed by both Connie\’s recovery and Steve\’s inclusion of us in the initial stage of his epic journey.

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